Nonagenarian businessman was driver for Westinghouse
Joseph F. “Joe” Sacramento knew how to hustle.
A lifelong resident of Braddock and North Braddock, the son of Italian immigrants served in the Navy during World War II and later worked full time for more than four decades as a truck driver and chauffeur at Westinghouse Electric Corp., while at the same time operating a pizza shop and, later, a sandwich delivery business.
Always young at heart, Mr. Sacramento even bought himself a motorcycle for his 80th birthday. He continued driving it well into his 90s.
Mr. Sacramento died Aug. 9 after a series of recent health setbacks in the North Braddock home that he and his wife built. He was 98.
“He was so proud of where he was from,” said Mr. Sacramento’s greatgrandson Joseph Strednak Jr., of Greenfield. “He would tell us stories about his childhood growing up on the streets of Braddock.
“On summer days, they would go over to Kennywood Park and ride all day for 10 cents. He would tell us stories about when the park still had a pool. Even in recent years, he would always go on Italian Day with the whole family. They sat on a bench near the carousel and watched the parade.”
The second of five children, Mr. Sacramento and his older brother helped to raise their younger siblings after his mother died unexpectedly.
“He quit school and worked, including at Kennywood for two years as an operator for the swan boats and the little whip,” his great-grandson said.
Mr. Sacramento met
Catherine “Teen” Pekarcik at a local roller rink and the couple married in 1941.
They were inseparable, Mr. Strednak said, including during the last six years of Mrs. Sacramento’s life, when her husband cared for her at home until her death in 2006.
In 1945, during the war, Mr. Sacramento joined the Navy and served stateside for 11 months at a training base in Sampson, N.Y.
After the war, he went to work as a truck driver and as a personal driver for the president of the Westinghouse Electric plant in East Pittsburgh.
In the 1950s, Mr. Sacramento, his wife and his late brother Tony Sacramento opened T&J’s Pizza in Braddock.
“My gram would basically go down and prep the dough, and when pap got off work, they would make the pizzas through the night,” Mr. Strednak said of his great- grandparents. “It even had a pinball machine, and people used to hang out there.”
Their recipes were legendary and survived much longer than the pizza parlor, which closed about 20 years later.
“From time to time, he and Gram would make the pizza with the homemade dough — they were unbelievable,” Mr. Strednak said. “That is something I’ll never forget.”
When Mr. Sacramento retired from Westinghouse after 42 years, he parlayed a hoagie recipe into a very successful side hustle.
“People called him ‘Hoagie Joe,’” his great-grandson recalled. “He started that about 30 years ago. He would lay out wax paper and bring in all the fresh buns and the meat and everything. He got all of his ingredients locally and his grandchildren helped to dress the hoagies.”
Every Wednesday, Mr. Sacramento loaded up his blue Plymouth Horizon and delivered dozens of the delicious $ 5 sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil to local businesses, clubs and offices.
“It was a very small car,” Mr. Strednak said, laughing. “For him, it was just something to do. It’s probably why he lived as long as he did. And, they were great — people still talk about the hoagies. Many of his customers came to the funeral home this week for his viewing.”
But Mr. Sacramento never had just one job — even as a nonagenarian. Later in life, he also worked part time at the Ardmore Roller Rink and as a barber, cutting hair in his basement for select customers.
He volunteered as an usher at First Evangelical Free Church McKeesport, where he was a longtime member.
Even his social calendar was bustling most days, full of breakfast and lunch gettogethers with old buddies and family members, most of whom lived within a few blocks of each other.
Riding around the neighborhood on his Honda Rebel motorcycle, Mr. Sacramento made a morning ritual of visiting friends or stopping by the local doughnut shop or Norm’s Auto Body, just to shoot the breeze.
“I would hear Pap come buzzing down the hill from his house, and at the end of the night, he’d go back home,” Mr. Strednak said. “He eventually gave up the motorcycle, but he was still driving his car until just a few weeks ago.”
There was no greater enjoyment for Mr. Sacramento,
though, than seeing his family gathered around him.
“He always wanted all of us together. One of his greatest phrases was ‘My gang’s all here!’ ” his greatgrandson said. “There is a little of him in all of us, and he cherished that closeness more than anything. in “He loved dressing up in a suit and tie with French cuffs and greeting everybody with his beautiful smile. He left knowing that he made everyone smile, and that’s how we’ll remember him.”
Along with his greatgrandson, Mr. Sacramento is survived by his daughter Deanna Strednak, of Forest Hills; his siblings Sara Simone, of Rankin, and Frank Sacramento, of North Braddock; two grandchildren; and three other great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his brothers Tony and Neal Sacramento.
His funeral was Friday. Memorial contributions may be made to First Evangelical Free Church, 4001 University Drive, McKeesport, PA 15132.